Have you ever heard of “Indian Corn”? All corn is “Indian Corn”. The Native Americans discovered a way to make the corn they had more edible and bountiful, to feed a vast majority economically. Corn started out as a black big, almost pointy and hard kernels called Teosinte. (NativeTech)

This is the Teosinte plant and what Corn looks like now.

Photo Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation

According to the National Science Foundation, in 2005, a scientist in California, Brandon Gaut, helped to make this process more visible by recreating it. He did exactly what the Native Americans did around 10,000 years ago. The scientists took a Teosinte plant, which was only 2-3 inches long and produced about 5 to 12 kernels, which were very hard and mostly for animals to eat. When early botanist found this plant, the scientists quickly dismissed how it could be related to modern corn. Especially when our modern corn is about 12 inches long, and 500 or more kernels. (National Science Foundation, 2005)

Here is a chart of the corn broken down to show the differences. The picture has a chart at the bottom that describes it in scientific terms. The first photo is what we know Maize (corn) to be today. The picture (B) is the grass seed Teosinte ear that has the rachis internode (in) and glume (gl) labelled. The picture ( C) is one of the first cultivations of maize and teosinte. The picture (d) is the actual closeup of the teosinte fruitcase. The picture (e) is a closeup of the cultivation between the maize and the teosinte. The next three pictures at the bottom of the chart (f,g,h), show us what the tesonite glumes and internodes look like in the corn after all the cultivations.

Wang, H.H., Nussbaum-Wagler, T., Li, B., Zhao, Q., Vigouroux, Y., Faller, M., Bomblies, K., Lukens, L., & Doebley, J. (2005). The origin of the naked grains of maize. Nature, 436, 714-719.

Although scientists cannot say how long this cultivation process took. There is some archaeological evidence about how the corn plant completely lost its genetic diversity, which would mean a domestication event. The scientists from the National Science Foundation, believe that it took around 3,500 teosinte plants to create the modern corn.  They figured out from this experiment that it took about 1,000 genes from the Teosinte plant to create the corn. (National Science Foundation, 2005)  During this cultivation process, corn lost its survival ability in the wild.

The cultivation process softened the kernel up and infused it into the cob more. The new corn gained larger ears with more rows of soft kernels. (NativeTech) There is some archaeology that shows this cultivation happened about 6,000 years ago. Archaeology has shown that Argiculture is around 9,000 – 10,000 years old. Archaeologists have found the domestication event of corn to be between 6,000 and 10,000 years old in central Mexico. (NativeTech)

Corn found in Storage Pit

Image Credit:
Wendy and Michael Scullin
UI-OSA Photo Archives

Native Americans made over 250 different kinds of corn, all different colors. (Hilarie, Larry, 1)Maybe these different kinds of corn are just what happened during different cultivations? Did the Natives like them enough to eat? 

Further Reading

Follow the “Three Sisters Method” for planting

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/native-american-method-growing-corn-69787.html

WOW! You can eat the colored “Indian Corn”

http://eatyourwayclean.com/can-you-eat-indian-corn-yes-and-heres-how/

“Indian Corn and edible?”

https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/everything-about-indian-corn.htm

A crucial part of human history is the development of taming animals to help in daily life, rather than as prey to be hunted or a predator to be avoided. While the topic is not heavily focused on, domestication of animals was just as important as the domestication and farming of plants, because the animals were needed to be able to work the land and were a more reliable source of food than the harvest that may not come.

An estimated timeline of animal domestication
Saey, Tina Hesman. “DNA Evidence Is Rewriting Domestication Origin Stories.” Science News, Science News, 2 Aug. 2018, www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-evidence-rewriting-domestication-origin-stories

Domestication happened at different points in all corners of the world, but animals were all domesticated for a reason, even if that is not their purpose now. Dogs were domesticated to assist in hunting, oxen to pull heavy loads, and farm animals like cows, horses, goats, and sheep for food and milk. While some roles are the same, dogs are no longer primarily used for hunting, horses developed into a means of transportation, and goats have recently been used to eat unwanted plants! Why wasn’t every animal domesticated? The animals that were domesticated usually had flexible diets that didn’t require much work on the human’s part, manageable temperaments, changeable social hierarchy, and would be easily bred in captivity. For example, it wouldn’t be very helpful to domesticate meerkats who have a strict social hierarchy and a specific diet along with a lack of purpose under human control.

The evolution of cattle domestication
“Domesticated Animals.” Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Oerlinghausen, Archaeological Open-Air Museum Oerlinghausen, afm-oerlinghausen.de/en/afm-rundgang-en/steinzeit-en/jungsteinzeit-en/haustiere-en#prettyPhoto.

Domesticating a species involves human interference in the animals’ breeding patterns. Dogs were domesticated from wolves by selecting the wolf pups that were likely the least aggressive, most obedient, had smaller jaws, or a certain coloring depending on the culture that was domesticating them. This select breading has created the entirely new species of dog, separate from wolf. Domestication also affects the animals brought into human life. Archeologists can usually tell if certain animals are domesticated based on their bones Domesticated horses and cattle used to pull heavily loads for farm work often have osteoarthritis or leg strain that would not be there otherwise.

Animal domestication changed a great deal of human society. It allowed for more permanent settlement as cattle provided a reliable food and supply source. With settlement and supplies came population growth and density and a development of communities that worked to provide everything needed for the people around, even if they weren’t of direct relation as was the previous custom. A downside to domestication was the spread of diseases between humans and animals that would have otherwise jumped between species. Pig flu and transfer of parasites are just a few examples of humans and animals getting a little too close. But without domestication humans may well still be wandering hunter-gatherers.

Further Reading:

History of the Domestication of Animals

http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ab57

Domestication

https://www.britannica.com/science/domestication

References:

Bahn, Paul and Colin Renfrew 2010  Archaeology Essentials. 2nd Edition Thames & Hudson              —–x—-Inc., New York, NY.

“Domesticated Animals.” Archäologisches Freilichtmuseum Oerlinghausen, Archaeological Open-Air Museum Oerlinghausen, afm-oerlinghausen.de/en/afm-rundgang-en/steinzeit-en/jungsteinzeit-en/haustiere-en#prettyPhoto.

Lear, Jessica. “Our Furry Friends: the History of Animal Domestication.” Journal of Young Investigators, 17 Feb. 2012, www.jyi.org/2012-february/2017/9/17/our-furry-friends-the-history-of-animal-domestication.

National Geographic Society. “Domestication.” National Geographic Society, 9 Oct. 2012, www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/domestication/.

Saey, Tina Hesman. “DNA Evidence Is Rewriting Domestication Origin Stories.” Science News, Science News, 2 Aug. 2018, www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-evidence-rewriting-domestication-origin-stories

Recent research has shown that deep sea sediments are a likely sink for microplastics. Studies in the Arctic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Southwest Indian Ocean show an abundance of plastic debris. Deep-sea coring was used as a method of sampling.

Plastic waste samples taken from the North Pacific

Since plastic is extremely durable, there is difficulty in disposing of the matter, which is why it accumulates in the natural environment. The plastic in the deep sea could have come from a multitude of origins; humans use plastic religiously. We have plastic in our computers, to carry our groceries, and in many other daily objects. Other sources could be fishing waste, shipyards, or municipal drainage systems.

The plastics could have travelled north by way of the ice floes in the Thermohaline Circulation, ocean circulation that is controlled by density differences. Microplastics have a smaller surface area than other plastic debris, so they are less buoyant, which makes them sink faster. Then, the plastics are deposited on the seafloor.

The generation and deposition of plastics in the oceans

Multiple research expeditions collected deep-sea sediment cores from basins, submarine canyons, seamounts (a submarine mountain), and continental slopes (the sea floor before the break of the waves). According to the article, The Deep Sea is a Major Sink for Microplastic Debris, “ten centimetre diameter cores were obtained from megacorers or boxcores that were subsequently subsampled.” Megacorers take wide samples in plastic tubes with a weight and suction system. Boxcorers take 600 millimeter square samples. In another study, scientists took samples by video guided multiple corers, which took eight cores. Multiple corers can take up to twelve undisturbed cores in plastic tubes. Coral specimens from different seamounts were also taken and observed.

The different sampling methods proved to be most explanatory. According to Royal Society Open Science, “275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic waste was generated in 192 coastal countries in 2010, with 4.8 to 12.7 million MT entering the ocean” (Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean.) The Royal Society Open Science also “confirmed that microplastics were abundant in all 12 sediment samples and all coral samples” and found that microplastics were found on every strata level ranging down to a depth of 3,500 meters. This prevalence of microplastic in all levels of their sampling and in all of the coral types sampled spanning many seas reveals that there is a great deal of plastic in the deep sea.

The increase of plastics in the deeps sea negatively impacts shipping, tourism, and majorly affects wildlife. It affects many marine organisms by being taken in at the lowest level on the food chain. Microplastic “is of particular concern because it can be taken up by a wider range of biota (>172 species) and can be propagated in food webs” (High Quantities of Microplastic in Arctic Deep-Sea Sediments.) One of the most remote places on the earth, the deep Arctic sea, is being polluted by plastic waste. This is important to know and understand so that we can make reparations. Action must be taken to reduce our plastic production.

Links:

https://phys.org/news/2017-08-marine-microplastics-bottom-dweller-bellies.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6076259/

Citations:

Woodall LC et al. 2014 The deep sea is a major sink for microplastic debris.R. Soc. open sci. 1:http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140317

High Quantities of Microplastic in Arctic Deep-Sea Sediments from the HAUSGARTEN

Observatory Melanie Bergmann, Vanessa Wirzberger, Thomas Krumpen, Claudia

Lorenz, Sebastian Primpke, Mine B. Tekman, and Gunnar Gerdts. Environmental

Science & Technology 2017 51 (19), 11000-11010 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03331

Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean J. R. Jambeck, R. Geyer, C. Wilcox, T. R. Siegler, Perryman, A. Andrady, R. Narayan, K. L. Law, Science (Washington, DC, U. S.)(2015), 347 (6223) 347 768-771 CODEN: SCIEAS ISSN: 0036-8075

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul Bahn 2010 Archaeology Essentials. 2nd ed. Thames & Hudson,

New York.

Getty Images. “Samples of plastic waste level in ocean water taken in the North Pacific.” The

Guardian, Adam Vaughan 2018 Guardian News and Media Limited

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/17/microplastic-deposits-found-deep-in-worlds-oceans-and-seas#img-1

“Seafloor Sampling.” Edited by Oceanography Center National, When Did Modern Rates of Sea Level Rise Start? | National Oceanography Centre, 2018, noc.ac.uk/facilities/national-marine-equipment-pool/scientific-engineering/seafloor-sampling.

Eunomia, Research and Consulting. Eunomia Marine Litter.

Riebeek, Holli. “Paleoclimatology: Explaining the Evidence.” NASA, NASA, 9 May 2006,

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Paleoclimatology_Evidence.

Though archaeologists can come up with good guesses about the date of artifacts through different processes, most methods of dating are trumped by a relatively new technique called radiocarbon dating. Developed in 1949, it is considered the most useful way of determining the dates of artifacts for archaeologists.

Radiocarbon dating was discovered when chemist Willard Libby realized radioactive carbon-14 (¹⁴C) is made in the Earth’s atmosphere, and then absorbed into plants and entered into the carbon cycle. Since ¹⁴C is radioactive, it decays at a relatively quick exponential rate (Figure 1), while non-radioactive carbon (¹²C) does not. By measuring an artifact’s ¹⁴C to ¹²C ratio, chemists can determine the date of any organic material that was part of the carbon cycle (Bahn and Renfrew 2010:210).

While Libby noted that radiocarbon dating remains effective because the amount of ¹⁴C produced in the atmosphere does not vary with time, this may not always be the case.

Fossil fuel emissions have undoubtedly raised the amount of ¹²C in the atmosphere, with there being an upward trend in in the metric tons of Carbon in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution (Figure 2). CO₂ emissions have increased by 90% since 1970 (EPA 2017), and it is therefore important to consider the effects of this new carbon in the atmosphere on radiocarbon dating, the effectiveness of which remains contingent upon the fact that the proportion of ¹⁴C in the atmosphere does not vary.

When fossil fuels are released into the atmosphere, they release ¹²C, and not ¹⁴C. This changes the ratio of ¹²C to ¹⁴C, which is what is measured to date artifacts. If the excess C¹² in the atmosphere brought about by global warming enters the carbon cycle, the ratio of ¹²C to ¹⁴C increases greatly, making new organic material read as much older (Graven, Heather D. 2015). With an excess of ¹²C in the atmosphere, new organic materials will have the same ¹⁴C : ¹²C ratio as organic material from 1050.

If humans continue to release carbon into the atmosphere, many methods of radiocarbon dating will no longer be viable, and will not be able to provide absolute dates for artifacts up to 2,000 years old (Graven, Heather D. 2015).

Though there are other methods of dating, radiocarbon is favored, and many methods must be used in tandem to provide the most accurate dates possible (Bahn and Renfrew 2010).

Dating as we know it will change if the carbon being released into the atmosphere cannot be managed.

Figure 1. The carbon cycle and the decay of 14C. Sketch by The University of Waikato

Figure 2. Million Metric Tons of Carbon in the atmosphere vs. year. Graph by Boden, T.A., G. Marland, and R.J. Andres 2017

Works Cited:

Bahn, Paul and Colin Renfrew

2010   Archaeology Essentials. 2^nd Edition Thames & Hudson Inc., New York, NY.

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

2017  Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data. Electronic document, https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data, accessed September 22^nd, 2018

Graven, Heather D.

2015  Impact of fossil fuel emissions on atmospheric radiocarbon and various applications of radiocarbon over this century. Electronic document, http://www.pnas.org/content/112/31/9542, accessed September 22^nd, 2018

Additional Content:

“The Future of Radiocarbon Dating”

https://www.naturphilosophie.co.uk/the-future-of-radiocarbon-dating-and-an-overview-of-the-ams-technique/

“How Carbon-14 Dating Works”

https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geology/carbon-14.htm

Since it was rediscovered over 250 years ago, Pompeii has been an intriguing and popular destination for generations across the world. For its most recent resurgence, millennials have manifested their own captivation in site through the 2013 Bastille song about the city and a popular meme currently circulating around the internet. The meme, that began after CNN posted pictures from a dig site, shows an unnamed skeleton who appears to have initially escaped the volcanic ash, only to be then killed by a falling boulder. The irony of the situation inspired many to apply it to their own lives and it became a phenomenon on social media platforms.

A recent photo of an excavation site at Pompeii, Italy, most likely a similar setting to where the unnamed man was found. Photo provided by The Special Superintendency for the Archaeological Heritage of Naples and Pompeii, May 17, 2018.

However, in a Forbes article published in June, archaeologist Kristina Killgrove reports that through examining the skull of the skeleton, the archaeologists found that the man’s skull remained completely intact (Killgrove 2018). This helped them conclude that man had actually not been killed by the boulder, but instead, the upper part of the body had sunk during a previous excavation, causing it to appear that the boulder had been fatal. He most likely died due to asphyxiation.  Although this essentially discredits the meme, the study of the man after he was buried led the team to further understand the context of Pompeii and the fate of one of its citizens. This type of inspection–the study of how an organism is buried and the processes that affect it after burial–is called taphonomy, and it remains widely important in the fields of archaeology and paleontology to explain why we find certain fossils and why we don’t, and how that affects the greater scheme of studying the past life (Renfrew 2010:41).

An artificially fossilized lizard foot, evidence of the some of the new technology being used by archaeologists to better understand taphonomy. Photo provided by Evan Sattia, Field Museum/University of Bristol and Tom Kaye, Foundation for Scientific Advancement

Through greater advances in technology, archaeologists are investigating how to replicate the fossilizing process, in order to better examine and understand decaying, and how one organism becomes a fossil. Evan Sattia of the Field Museum in Chicago explains in a July article for Popular Science that his team is essentially “baking” samples in clay tablets at 3500 psi, which is roughly the temperature of the level of the Earth’s crust where fossils are found. By replicating the process, scientists are able to probe into what temperature, gas, and other environmental effects lead to the fossilizing process and what materials are able to survive, a breakthrough in understanding how we find fossils and why we find them.

Although it is sometimes overlooked, taphonomy is a crucial part of the entire archaeological process within a site. The fossils that are left behind, allow archaeologists to peek further into the past living and provide a greater context of the past culture and environment of an area. And as evidenced through technological advances, taphonomy will continue, and should continue, to grow and improve along with further discoveries.

Further Readings:

Curren, Thomas.

2017  Archaeology as Blood Sport: How an Ancient Mastodon Ignited Debate over Humans’ Arrival in North America. Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2017. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-cerutti-mastodon-20171222-htmlstory.html#, accessed September 16, 2018.

Pickrell, John.

2018  Here’s How Humans Can Make It as a Fossil. Reader’s Digest, February 15, 2018. https://www.rd.com/culture/human-fossils/, accessed September 16, 2018.

Reference List:

Blakemore, Erin.

  2018  To Understand Fossils, Scientists Are Baking Their Own. Popular Science, July 25, 2018. https://www.popsci.com/easy-bake-fossil, accessed September 16, 2018.

Killgrove, Kristina.

  2018  That Meme-Worthy Pompeii Skeleton? Not Crushed By A Block, His Skull Shows. Forbes, June 28, 2018. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/06/28/that-meme-worthy-pompeii-skeleton-not-crushed-by-a-block-his-skull-shows/#7a375b9a1c61, accessed September 16, 2018.

Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn.

  2010  Archaeology Essentials. 2nd edition. Thames & Hudson, New York.

Images:

Blakemore, Erin.

  2018  To Understand Fossils, Scientists Are Baking Their Own. Popular Science, July 25, 2018. https://www.popsci.com/easy-bake-fossil, accessed September 16, 2018.

McGrath, Maryellen.

2018 Extraordinary discovery of the archaeological site of Pompeii. ABC News, May 19, 2018. https://abcnews.go.com/International/extraordinary-discovery-archaeological-site-pompeii/story?id=55237858, accessed September 16, 2018.

Bill Rathje’s research of the American landfill painted a dark tale of the direction of our consumerist society. The immense waste of resources and lack of accountability will, according to Rathje, eventually lead to a culture collapse. Looking into today, we face more challenges despite the enormous technological progress we’ve enjoyed. Rather than improve our situation and more effectively use our resources, we face new issues in the form of electronic waste, the discard of electrical and electronic devices.

Today, much of the world’s e-waste originates from developed nations in the Western World such as the United States and Europe. The United Nations estimates that over 50 million tons of e-waste are discarded each year. And as our world’s reliance on technology grows and our current products updated, this number is sure to increase.

It is estimated that 75% of all e-waste is exported to developing countries around the world such as Ghana and Pakistan. The recycling of e-waste is often too costly in developed countries, making dumping a more economical option. Additionally, exporting out e-waste likely prevents the environmental and health dangers of recycling.

In cities where e-waste is dumped, such as Agbogbloshie, Ghana, and Karachi, Pakistan, the local communities have repurposed the e-waste into an economy based on the recycling and reuse of the dumped appliances. They are either repaired in order to be resold, or more likely, disassembled to recover raw materials such as copper, silver, gold, and steel.

Figure 1. A worker burns away wiring insulation in order to extract the copper in Agbobloshie, Ghana.

The dumping of e-waste presents enormous health and environmental concerns to the local community. In the case of Agbogbloshie and Karachi, people are continually affected by the toxins and chemicals released by the burning of e-waste. Workers, especially, are affected by the toxic chemicals as they extract the raw materials from the e-waste. Almost everyone becomes at risk from exposure to lead, cadmium, and other disruptive chemicals.

Figure 2. Various electronic components are transported to be recycled in Karachi, Pakistan.

Studying communities such as Agbogbloshie and Karachi reveals the patterns that affect e-waste dumpsites around the world. For example, even in such an environment such as Agbogbloshie and Karachi, there remains a stark divide between those who utilize the e-waste. ‘Resellers’, often able to receive old or unused electronics, are able to make profits of thousands of Euros a month. Meanwhile, the majority of e-waste workers rely on a subsistence scavenging for grams of materials at a time. Also, the exploitation of developing countries as dumping grounds hark back to previous colonial exploitation of natural resources. And finally, it is the poor that are the most affected by the dumping of e-waste.

In summation, the dump of e-waste in developing countries does not represent an adequate solution as our world becomes both more technologically advanced and consumerist. The dumping of e-waste reflects just a transference of the root problem to other groups and cultures. All in all, e-waste represents the denial and postponement of developed nations actively addressing the growing environmental and health dangers of our trash.

Works Cited:

Blau, John
2006  UN summit on e-waste. CIO UK. CIO UK, 28 November 2006.
<https://www.cio.co.uk/it-leadership/un-summit-on-e-waste-316/>.
Accessed September 16, 2018.

Kuper, Jo
2008   Poisoning the poor: Electronic waste in Ghana. Greenpeace. Greenpeace, August 2008.<https://www.greenpeace.org/denmark/Global/denmark/p2/other/report/2008/poisoning-the-poor-electroni.pdf>. Accessed September 16, 2018.

2016  ToxiCity: life at Agbobloshie, the world’s largest e-waste dump in Ghana. YouTube. Youtube, 01 June 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watchv=mleQVO1Vd1I&t=1226s>.
accessed September 16, 2018.

2016  The Toxic E-Waste Trade Killing Pakistan’s Poorest. YouTube. YouTube, 11 July 2016. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axYKPbr9_MA>. accessed September 16, 2018.

The process of mummification occurs both naturally and unnaturally, and it has been carried out by various cultures throughout history. Some climates allow for the natural mummification and impressive preservation of the dead due to the extremely hot and dry climate or extremely cold climate.

Some historic cultures, however, have purposefully mummified their dead. There is evidence that the Chinchorro society of South America mummified their dead as early as 7,000 years ago (PRI 2012). Mummies from the time of the Inca have also been discovered – remains of a cultural practice of human sacrifice (NYTimes 1999). There have even been mummies from prehistoric Britons that have been discovered dating back to 1500 BCE (Keys 2003).

Certainly the most well known of the historic mummies are those of ancient Egypt. The mummies of elite ancient Egyptians, boasting impressive tombs, some of which the well known pyramids, underwent the expensive process of mummification following their death as preparation for burial (Smithsonian). We know a fair amount about the mummification process carried out by these people, and in addition we understand why they did it. This preservation of the dead made sure that they would be able to live

The pyramids of ancient Egypt are the most well known form of a tomb that would have housed a mummy.

out a full life in another world. As Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist at the American University in Cairo puts it, “they were obsessed with life! (…) Most Egyptians died by the time they were 40. So they wanted to have a better afterlife. What you see in the tombs is a really careful preparation for eternity” (NOVA 2006).

Believe it or not, a sort of mummification, in a shockingly similar fashion to that of the Egyptians, exists within the United States today. This is the result of a process called cryonics. This process involves taking a recently deceased body, lowering its temperature to -196 degrees celcius, and replacing its blood with antifreeze to preserve organ function (Cryonics Institute 2018). Like the mummification of Ancient Egypt, this industry is expensive, costing up to $200,000 per body. The question remains: why? Quite similarly to the ancient Egyptians, some people are simply not ready to part with the idea of a prolonged life. While it sounds like something out of

This image is from the facility of one company that specializes in the preservation of bodies through cryonics. These cylinders each are meant to house a preserved body.

science fiction, the cryo freezing industry is based on the belief that at some point in the future there will be technology advanced enough to revive a deceased, frozen body, and these people are willing to spend their money on that chance (Cryonics Institute). One Arizona based company currently has “147 brains and bodies, all frozen in liquid nitrogen with the goal of being revived one day” (Guzman 2016). Some companies are even working with countries to try to get the legal rights to begin the freezing process before death in order to increase the health of the body prior to freezing (Weston 2017). While we have a new name for it, this mummification-esque process draws on a desire that we share with other humans of the past to experience a greater life.

Additional Content for more information:

For a straightforward piece by the Smithsonian with more information about the ancient Egyptian mummification process, click Here!

For a youtube video which is the official advertisement video displayed on the website of one of the leading Cryo freezing companies which provides their information on the process of Cryo freezing, click Here!

Reference List:

Guzman, Zack. 2016 NBC news. Electronic document, https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/innovation/company-will-freeze-your-dead-body-200-000-n562551 , accessed September 15, 2018.

Keys, D.  2003   Europe’s First Mummies. Archaeology, 56(5), 16-17. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41658742 , accessed September  15, 2018

NOVA. 2006  PBS. Electronic Document, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/afterlife-ancient-egypt.html , accessed September 16, 2018.

Smithsonian. Electronic document, https://www.si.edu/spotlight/ancient-egypt/mummies , accessed September 16, 2018.

Weston, Phoebe. 2017 Dailymail. Electronic document, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5080705/Cryogenics-firm-start-freezing-people-die.html , accessed September 15, 2018.

Wilford, John Noble. 1999   New York Times. Electronic Document, https://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/07/us/entirely-preserved-inca-mummies-found.html , accessed September 15, 2018

2018 Cryonics Institute. Electronic documents, http://www.cryonics.org/resources/ , accessed September 16, 2018

2012   PRI’s The World. Electronic Document, https://www.pri.org/stories/2012-08-14/new-study-looks-why-ancient-south-american-culture-mummified-its-dead , accessed September 16, 2018.

Image sources:

Pyramids image: 2018 Daily Times. Electronic Document. https://dailytimes.com.pk/290373/of-stars-and-pyramids/ , accessed September 16, 2018

Cryonics image: Ahmed, Syed Sujeel. 2017 About Islam. Electronic Document. 2018 Daily Times. Electronic Document. https://dailytimes.com.pk/290373/of-stars-and-pyramids/ , accessed September 16, 2018 , accessed September 16, 2018.

Shipwrecks have been heralded as time capsules in the ocean due to the complete nature of the artifacts they contain at the time that they sink, but shipwrecks and encrustations can be examined at a level even beyond the artifacts themselves. Ships, when they set sail, contain everything the passengers believe is essential to life for an extended amount of time. With this in mind, shipwrecks can provide insight into historical cultural materiality and, because the passengers and the crew on board will come from different classes, social hierarchies.

When artifacts that sank aboard a shipwreck are left in salt water for extended amounts of time, especially in warmer ocean temperatures, they often become covered with what is termed encrustation: a thick conglomeration of “calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, metal corrosion products, sand, clay, and various forms of marine life such as shells, coral, barnacles, and plant life” (Hamilton 1997). While it may seem as though this encrustation is preventing the examination and analysis of the artifact within, the sediments themselves often contain a treasure trove of archaeological information. In fact, encrustations can indefinitely preserve impressions of objects that have dissolved which can be used as molds to recreate the objects (Figure 1). 

Figure 1. A drawing made of an encrustation of a partisan found at the site of the Belle in Matagorda Bay, Texas. Not only was it possible to determine the original composite materials, but a cast of the blade was created using the impression left in the encrustation (Conservation Research Laboratory Texas A&M University; Composite Wood)

While it may seem as though encrustations destroy archaeological evidence, what they may dissolve is often made up for by the wide variety of information they provide. In addition to creating imprints that can be recreated, the encrustations preserve objects that would otherwise be destroyed in oceanic environments such as potsherds, fragments of cloth, and seeds and insects. Furthermore, each encrustation alone can contain an abundance of individual artifacts and ecofacts. In the case of the encrustation found aboard the San Esteban off of Padre Island, Texas (Figure 2) the encrustations of large iron objects like anchors each contained hundreds of smaller artifacts and ecofacts like bolts, coins, plants, and shell debris.

Figure 2. Various stages of extraction of the artifacts in an enunciation from the San Esteban, beginning with an x-ray to locate the objects within the conglomerate (Arnold 1980).

Another unique advantage of encrustations is that they hold a timeline of archaeological information. In a similar manner to geological stratification, exterior layers of encrustations will have formed more recently than interior layers. The ecofacts that inevitably become a part of the conglomerations can provide insight into ocean ecology based on the conditions in which living organisms can survive. With encrustations providing a geological timescale, not only can the information be used to date artifacts within the concretions but there is also the potential to learn about changes in ocean ecology over time and use trends in that data to predict future ecological conditions.

Reference List:

Arnold, J. Barto.

  1980  Shipwrecks in the Wake of Columbus. Electronic document, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d70c/3a265da998dbfd37795bede31b1608b8b05b.pdf, accessed September 14, 2018.

Conservation Research Laboratory Texas A&M University

  Overview of Conservation in Archaeology; Basic Archaeological Conservation Procedures. Electronic document, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/conservationmanual/File1.htm#Basic%20References, accessed September 14, 2018.

Conservation Research Laboratory Texas A&M University

  Composite Wood / Iron Objects: Pole Arms and Partisans; La Salle Shipwreck Project Texas Historical Commission. Electronic document, http://nautarch.tamu.edu/CRL/Report2/polearm.htm, accessed September 14, 2018.

Hamilton, Donny L.

  1997  Basic Methods of Conserving Underwater Archaeological Material Culture. Electronic document,  http://nautarch.tamu.edu/class/606/UA_%20Conserv.pdf, accessed September 14, 2018.

Johnston, Grahame.

  2018  Conservators of Underwater Archaeology. Electronic document, http://www.archaeologyexpert.co.uk/conservatorsofunderwaterarchaeology.html, accessed September 14, 2018.

Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn

  2010  Archaeology Essentials. 2nd edition. Thames & Hudson, New York.

U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment

  1987  Technologies for Survey, Identification, Navigation, Excavation, Documentation, Restoration, and Conservation. In Technologies for Underwater Archaeology and Maritime Preservation. Electronic document,  https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1987/8726/8726.PDF, accessed September 14, 2018.

Additional Content for Interested Readers:

Arnold, J. Barto and Melinda Arceneaux Wickman

  1980  PADRE ISLAND SPANISH SHIPWRECKS OF 1554. Electronic document, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/etpfe, accessed September 14, 2018.

Adovasio, J. M. and C. Andrew Hemmings

  2013  Underwater Archaeological Excavation Techniques. Electronic document, https://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/12newworld/background/underarch/underarch.html, accessed September 14, 2018.

In modern day society, the homeless are too often looked down upon as the lowest class.  We treat a settled down lifestyle as the ultimate goal — the American dream of a house with a white picket fence.  But as urban nomads, the homeless are not inherently down on their luck.  In fact, the nomadic lifestyle has a long and complex historical significance – like, for instance the Pazyryk people.

The construction of a Pazyryk kurgan.

The Pazyryk people were nomadic horsemen who inhabited the Altai mountain region from the 6th century B.C. to the 4th century B.C. (about.com).  The Pazyryk people combat the idea the nomadic peoples are, “less developed than many sedentary ones”  (nytimes.com), or that nomadic people of their region were simply “rude barbarians” (evolution-institute.org).  In Pazyryk burial mounds known as kurgans, artifacts like carved pieces of wood, goods formed from precious metals, and mechanically-complex carts have been found.  Foreign goods have also been found, but they have been transformed by the Pazyryk people’s craft — becoming even more fantastic.

An artist’s rendition of the tattoos covering the mummy known as Princess Ukok.

Even more interesting than the artifacts found inside of kurgans are the mummies buried with them.  Upon their bodies were intricate tattoos of animals both real and mythical.  It is believed that these tattoos symbolized place in society, names, or even pre-writing (nytimes.com)(ancient-origins.net “The Stunning Ancient Tattoos of the Pazyryk Nomads”).  This has been supported by the discovery of the mummy Princess Ukok, a young female who was found in an elaborate burial chamber.

The Pazyryk people have even been found to have performed complex surgery.  Two individuals were found to have undergone cranial surgery, and survived — evidenced by bone growth over the incisions (ancient-origins.net “Ancient Pazyryk nomads carried out highly advanced cranial surgery in Siberia”).  Interestingly, there is evidence that the surgeries performed are in line with ancient Greek medical texts suggesting the Pazyryk had an extensive range and communication with other cultures of their time period (ancient-origins.net “Ancient Pazyryk nomads carried out highly advanced cranial surgery in Siberia”).

The urban nomads of today are not unlike the Pazyryk.  Though some are not homeless  by choice, many do make the choice to be “home-free”.  Those of us with sedentary lives should not look down upon urban nomads.  We should work to coexist and stop trying to fix their way of living through assimilation into our lifestyle.  Nomadic people have an equally rich culture and history — especially if wealth is not measured in terms of material items.

References:

http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ancient-pazyryk-nomads-advanced-cranial-surgery-siberia-1020300

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/science/from-their-graves-ancient-nomads-speak.html

http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-asia/stunning-ancient-tattoos-pazyryk-nomads-002267

https://evolution-institute.org/blog/the-pazyryk-kurgans-a-glimpse-into-the-amazing-world-of-central-asia-in-the-iron-age-i-millennium-bce/

http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greekartarchaeology/ig/Wordless-Wednesday-Pictures/Pazyryk-Horseman-c-300-BC.htm#step-heading

Images:

http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/03/13/science/13NOMA4/13JPNOMA4-popup.jpg

http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2012/08/15/1226450/724929-princess-designs.jpg

Further Reading:

http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/the-textiles-from-pazyryk/

http://www.jstor.org/stable/23203291?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

In modern society, conflict is expected. One can hardly walk through a supermarket, let alone use the internet, without encountering an onslaught of minimally malaise, and often discrimination and violence. Much in the Archaeological record suggests that the history of humankind has similar violent overtones, but that the advent of warfare occurred simultaneously with the genesis of agriculture; while most societies were hunter-gatherers, there was relatively little to fight over. As a hunter-gatherer, an individual needs only their band, their health, and an area to move through as the seasons change and some resources are spent. However, in order to produce viable crops, a farmer must have land, sufficient rainfall or irrigation, implements, and most likely some form of permanent or semi-permanent structure. It is not surprising, then, that many archaeologists adhere to the theory that most hunter-gatherer societies died out around the time that agriculture was established, due to either adaptation to agriculture, or warfare.

An image from the Blätterhöhle cave near Hagen, Germany.

A recent study conducted by the Institute of Anthropology at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz suggests that the reality may not have been quite so simple. A team of archaeologists led by Professor Joachim Burger recently investigated the Blätterhöhle cave, in which both indigenous hunter-gatherers and immigrant agriculturalists are buried. They found remains in the cave which, paired with the other research that Burger has conducted, offer significant evidence that farmers and hunter-gatherers not only coexisted, they did so for quite some time (Science Daily).

Opening of the Blätterhöhle cave.

Most people living in central Europe were hunter-gatherers, until approximately 7,500 years ago. Around this time, immigrant farmers brought agricultural practices to the area. Contrary to common belief, these farmers coexisted with the indigenous hunter-gatherers for at least 2000 years (Academia.edu).

A skull found in the Blätterhöhle cave.

This is a compelling story of coexistence over warfare. Archaeology has shown us that even in a situation where people were exposed to a totally different culture from the only society they had ever known, people were able to adapt and compromise. That an outside group was able to exist comfortably enough with the indigenous population that many of both were buried in the same cave speaks volumes about the benefits of accepting cultural difference. In more contemporary history, many societies have been unwilling to adapt to others in any way, as evidenced by the violence and strife that seem to be synonymous with living in a post-industrial society. However, as this example indicates, humans don’t have to interact that way. Coexistence is possible. We just have to be willing to accept differences without anger, and be willing to adapt as our environment and neighbors change.

Information:

Science Daily

Academia.edu

Image Sources:

Natural Sciences (Image 1 and 3)

Anthroscape (Image 2)

Additional Information:

Human Prehistory

International Business Times